A Study On The Influence Of Chinese Drawing To Jingdezhen Blue-white Porcelain During Ming And Qing Dynasties

Blue-white porcelain refers to one with verdant under-glazed color, which is made firstly by coloringcobalt (Co) on green-ware (semi-finished product), then baking it under high temperature of1300°C.Owing to the blue color after the under-glazed cobalt (Co) is baked, this kind of porcelain is thus habituallynamed blue-white porcelain. Blue-white porcelain is favored by people because its green-ware is delicate,crystal-clear, its designs fresh and bright, tranquil and elegant, its color bright and clean with blue in white.Blue-white porcelain firstly appeared in Yuan Dynasty, and reached it peak during Ming and QingDynasties. As soon as the appearance of the blue-white porcelain, it dominated the field of pottery. Notonly did it set its hegemony, but also set the position of Jingdezhen as china capital. In a way blue-whiteporcelain is not only the symbol of china, but one of the symbols of China. Apart from tea, silk, theforeigners understand China, even Chinese culture mainly through blue-white porcelain.If you are going to study Chinese ceramics, you must study its relations with Chinese paintings anddrawings. Since antiquity, the occurrence and development between Chinese ceramic handcraft andChinese painting&calligraphy has been closely related. In other words, the history of Chinese ceramicsand that of Chinese arts are homologous, and they are both the concrete cultural and social manifestationsof their time. During Ming and Qing Dynasties, Chinese paintings and drawings reached new heights basedon absorbing the former dynasties, and different schools of scholars, officials, imperial-court paintersblossomed and contended with one another. The glory of these scholars mainly from the South happened tomeet and coincide with that of blue-white porcelain made in Jingdezhen—a China southern town, and theirpaintings, skills and characters inevitably affected the ornamental paintings on chinaware at that time.During these periods, just because of purposely or accidentally participation in the drawing of blue-whiteporcelain, the combination of Chinese drawings and ceramic arts was more closed, and performed a perfectduet between Chinese drawing and blue-white porcelain. This paper selects the period during whichChinese paintings and blue-white art perfectly combined, aiming to organize the relations between the twoabove mentioned and tries to make a humble effort to the further development of our national blue-whiteporcelain. This paper, apart from introduction and conclusion, is structurally composed of four chapters.Chapter One is a brief review of the history of Chinese ceramics before Ming and Qing Dynasties,trying to make out the history of Chinese ceramics before the great development during the abovementioned two dynasties, especially the derivation of Yuan blue-white porcelain, the characteristics of itsdecorative patterns, the reasons of its sudden appearance, its themes and models, with an aim of laying afoundation for the next chapter.Chapter Two is mainly to probe into three aspects related: firstly, the basic characteristics of blue-whiteporcelain; secondly, the scale of Guan kiln and private kiln, and their respective characteristics; thirdly, thebackground reasons of the prospection of Jingdezhen pottery industry during Ming and Qing Dynasties.Chapter Three is mainly about the leading figures, drawing skills, characteristics and styles of thedifferent drawing schools during Ming and Qing Dynasties, believing that the drawing level during Mingand Qing Dynasties was on a summit in Chinese art history, and the different styles of these schoolsunavoidably influenced the decorative paintings on blue-white porcelains at the same time. This chapterputs its emphasis on the influence of the skills of Chinese drawing on the decoration of blue-whiteporcelain during Ming and Qing Dynasties. By a series of examples, the author believes that the history ofChinese ceramics and that of Chinese arts are homologous. Chinese paintings and drawings, especiallythose during Ming and Qing Dynasties were surely absorbed and used by blue-white art. They influencedmutually and performed a perfect duet.Chapter Four is a private superficial view of the status quo of the development of blue-white porcelain,its problems, mainly to analyze the reasons of the problems, and put forward some bold suggestions forexperts for reference.